Hummingbird Cake (without nuts) features bananas, pineapple and a delicious tangy cream cheese frosting. Brought to you by my 16 year old daughter.
My daughter found this old fashioned hummingbird cake recipe on Pinterest. It comes from the website Yesterdish. We changed it up a bit from the classic hummingbird cake because she doesn’t care for nuts in cake.
Kimberly did a fabulous job and the end result was a delicious cake with great tropical flavors. She made it without any help from me. We decided she would make it in a 9″ X 13″ pan, instead of the traditional layer cake so it would be easier.
So I helped her figure out about how long it needed to bake. But all of the hands on work she did by herself. Both of my daughters cook and bake. I am lucky that way.
Cake is one of my all time favorite foods. Especially homemade cake. A special occasion is not a requirement to eat cake in our house. I typically like a thin layer of frosting. Unless it’s the kind made with whipped cream, then pile it on!
Ingredient List
- All Purpose Flour
- Sugar
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Eggs
- Mashed Bananas
- Crushed Pineapple
- Canola or Vegetable Oil (we only buy canola oil and use if for everything you would use vegetable oil for)
- Vanilla Extract
- Cream Cheese
- Butter
- Confectioners’ sugar
How to make this delicious cake
Preheat the oven to 350 and spray a 9″ X 13″ pan with cooking spray.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
Mash the bananas in a medium bowl, then add eggs, pineapple, oil and vanilla and mix until combined.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Beat the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth and creamy with a hand mixer.
Tips & Tricks
Prepare the baking pan before mixing the batter.
Baked goods rise better when the ingredients are room temperature so take the eggs out about 30 minutes before you plan on making the cake batter.
Overripe bananas work really well in this recipe.
For a moist cake do not over bake, it will dry it out.
We always sift powdered sugar before making frosting. This helps make a smooth lump free frosting.
Start beating the frosting on low speed then increase the speed after the ingredients are mixed together. This will help the powdered sugar to not go all over the place.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
Alternate Methods
Divide the batter evenly into two or three round cake pans, a sheet cake, or a bundt pan. The bake time would need to be adjusted. There is a great article over at Food Network about how to convert to different baking pans and how to adjust the baking time. A good rule of thumb is to leave the baking temperature the same. A cake is done when the sides start to pull away from the pan and the top springs back when lightly touched. I have underbaked cakes before and the top will sink down as the cake cools. I have never underbaked one so much that it wasn’t edible, it just didn’t look as nice.
You could also put all of the ingredients for the frosting in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until fluffy.
You can certainly add chopped pecans and decorate the top of the cake with pecan halves to make this more like the southern classic. But I gotta say, this version is pretty yummy!
We hope you will like our version of old-fashioned hummingbird cake (without nuts) as much as we do. It is a flavorful cake and perfect for those that can’t or won’t eat nuts.
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Hummingbird Cake (without nuts)
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- 2 cups mashed banana
- 1 can crushed pineapple drained (8 ounces)
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
For the frosting:
- 1 package cream cheese softened (8 ounces)
- ½ cup butter softened (1 stick)
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9″ X 13″ pan with cooking spray.
- Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
- Mash bananas in a medium bowl, add eggs, pineapple, oil and vanilla and stir until combined. Add to flour mixture and stir until incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 42-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely before frositng.
For the frosting:
- Beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Frost cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
My goal has always been to create recipes without sacrificing proper taste texture, and to provide foods that are not only as good as the original, but sometimes even better!
That is what I love about cooking; that we can personalize recipes and turn them into dishes we like even better. Thanks for stopping by!
We gathered our best Hummingbird Cake recipes, all of which put a special spin on the sweet pineapple-banana-cream cheese combination.
Glad you like our no-nut version!
Like mama, like daughter, Kimberly bakes so well. The cake looks excellent, Mindy. I couldn’t even cook rice when I was 16, let alone to make a splendid cake like this. Kimberly, thumbs up for you!
Thanks so much!